Ask people to name something green that they look forward to eating each spring, and you might hear asparagus, peas or fava beans. But grass? Not likely.

Unless, of course, you’re talking to a cheesemaker. The lush, green grass that follows winter’s rainy season is a verdant, bountiful buffet for their lactating livestock.

We don’t tend to think of cheese as a seasonal food — milk is available year-round, after all. But spring is when most cows, goats and sheep give birth, and their milk production peaks as they’re sent out to graze on all that fresh, new grass. Their milk — and the cheese made from it — takes on a seasonal quality that will change when the fields turn dry and golden come midsummer.

To Lassa Skinner, a Napa cheesemonger and founder of Culture, a quarterly cheese magazine, the most notable quality in spring milk is its rich flavor.

“There’s more going on in the feed because they’re in the pasture,” she says. “There’s a lot of really full flavor and lushness to the milk being produced from grass.”

Although cheesemakers use spring milk to make all kinds of cheese, from creamy washed-rinds to clothbound cheddars, Skinner says the best way to experience the true expression of that milk is by eating fresh, young cheeses such as ricotta, chevre or fromage blanc from farmstead producers, who raise their own animals.

A quick leap

At Harley Farms, a 200-goat dairy in Pescadero, what’s fresh milk one day is ricotta the next. The chevre and fromage blanc are sold at the farm within two days of milking.

The aromas and flavors of these kinds of fresh cheeses are often described as green, grassy or floral. Liam Callahan is the cheesemaker for Bellwether Farms, his family’s Sonoma County dairy, which produces cheeses from Jersey cows and sheep, including award-winning ricottas that have been used at some of the country’s top restaurants, including San Francisco’s Zuni Cafe and Berkeley’s Chez Panisse.

Callahan says the grassy flavors in cheese might be romanticized, but that doesn’t make them any less real. The 300 sheep on his family’s Petaluma ranch eat a steady diet of clover and rye grass each spring.

“You can smell the grass in the spring milk,” he says, “and you get a little of that flavor carry-through in fresh cheeses.”

Dee Harley, owner of Harley Farms, is one of the romantics. Cheese, she says, is like wine: It has the ability to express terroir.

“The salty ocean air goes into the grass here,” she says. “There’s a sweetness and tanginess in the cheese that’s special to our location. The cheese is the flavor of the farm, really.”

There’s a better balance in the milk chemistry, too, Callahan says. In the winter, the milk is higher in fat, which presents challenges. In the spring, when the animals are back on a grass diet, the balance of fat and protein is better for cheesemaking — and for cheese-eating as well.

Those fresh, new cheeses marry particularly well with other spring delights. There’s truth behind the “if it grows together, it goes together” adage, and a stroll through the farmers market will tell you everything you need to know.

Asparagus, artichokes, Meyer lemons, strawberries, spinach and spring greens work beautifully with fresh cheese. A simple salad of spinach, oranges and pecan-crusted goat cheese makes a lovely light lunch or first course. An asparagus and ricotta tart makes for an easy weeknight dinner or brunch showstopper. And few things are more heavenly than lemon ricotta pancakes with strawberries.

Herbs included

Harley Farms takes some of the guesswork out of it by selling logs of their chevre already coated with herbs, such as chives and dill that were grown on the farm. They also have goat cheese buttons topped with tomato and basil, apricot and pistachio, or cranberry and walnut.

Regardless of what other ingredients you use with the fresh cheese, Skinner says to “focus on not screwing around too much with it. You want the clean, delicate flavors to shine.”

Callahan echoed that sentiment when talking about his ricotta, which has a creamy, almost puddinglike consistency. When you tip it out of the basket it’s drained and sold in, it holds its shape, so thick you can actually slice it.

“You can serve it on a plate with whatever’s out of the garden or with honey or berries,” he says. “Not just blend it into something, like lasagna.”

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Where to find it

Harley Farms: Pescadero’s Harley Farms offers goat farm tours, farm dinners and special workshops. Order chevre, including Monet, at www.harleyfarms.com or get it delivered via GoodEggs.com, the artisanal local food service that has pickup sites around the Bay Area.Bellwether Farms: This Petaluma farm makes fresh cheeses, such as ricotta and fromage blanc, as well as carmody, crescenza, San Andreas and Pepato. Bellwether Farms cheeses are available at many Whole Foods, New Leaf, Nob Hill and Sprouts markets, as well as Lafayette’s Diablo Foods. For details, go to www.bellwetherfarms.com.

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